I really don't feel like going back and finding the quote, but someone earlier, in defense of the Moogle chip trade, said that it gave you 3 chips instead of 1.
I think your reading comprehension is off. Nobody said that a
single trade gives you three chips, though
I did bring up that
completing the Curator Moogle VB task (which requires THREE trades, maybe read the objective description?) will leave you with THREE colored chips in your inventory and a completed VB task. One chip for each trade you have to do to complete the objective.
https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/58239/bout-slightly-less-worse-each-time/22#3781164
Gil removal tactic. Like bonanza marbles, except this time you get plaudits instead of inventory -1 or -2 for a month.
Yup! Paying the ~15-20k premium over the chip NPC to get chips from the Curator Moogle instead is simply the cost of that VB objective and a small gil sink. And once complete, it leaves you with colored chips that you can use on the Strange Apparatus VB objective, which is at least a minor convenience. Hey, it's better than the Curator trade costing money but resulting in some random crap that has nothing to do with any VB quests. TBH, I'd have preferred if the Curator Moogle had Infinity Cores instead to avoid needing to farm them, but this is hardly a massive inconvenience.
Just like, go do one Sheol C run or an Ambuscade and you'll generate enough gil to fund your entire Vana'bout. It's not that crazy and the cost is well worth the reward. Consider that to make a single piece of reforged AF+2 armor, you have to buy an NPC craft item for about ~1.1mil. And if you hit the second VB tier, you get a
full 5/5 set of AF+3.
With that in mind, I think I can live with the incidental costs of being FLEECED by that damn Curator Moogle overcharging me by 5k a trade. But if you find that outrageous and want to pass on Vana'bout because of it, you do you.